"Mae," I said. "Listen, Mae."
She burst into tears.
"Now, Mae!"
"She _is_ going!" Mae sobbed. "Oh-h-h!"
"Yes, she is. And so is the President, and so are several prime
ministers and premiers and that imbecile Addison Madison and Mox and
protocol officers and the Secretary-General and a whole gaggle of
Monolithians. For Pete's sake, Mae! This is probably the most important
conference ever held in the history of man, not a week end at Atlantic
City!"
It took me half an hour to calm her down and get away. I was much lower
in my mind by then and not at all convinced that Mae understood, though
she had put on a brave face.
* * * * *
Joy, the object of my wife's concern, was waiting for me at the office
with a new crisis.
"Sam," she said, "I tried to get you at home, but you'd left."
"You mean you talked to Mae?"
"Yes. She's sweet. We had a nice chat."
I groaned. "You'd better get her back for me. Never mind; I'll get her
later. What's the matter?"
"The press is coming, too."
"That's impossible! We'd have to take at least one from every country
represented. There isn't room."
"Yes there is. The Monolithians provided another ship. I've got the
list drawn up. All you have to do is check it over."
"All right. Let me see it."
They were all there: AP and UPI, representing a North American press
pool; radio and TV men, magazine writers, Reuters, France Presse, Tass,
Press Trust of India, New China News and so forth. Somebody had exerted
the influence of the host country and worked in such supernumeraries as
the Voice of America, World Wide, Continental Broadcasting and our old
friend Clyde B. Fitchburn. I was glad to see Stew Macon's name next to
WW's.
"Fine," I said, initialing the list and handing it back to Joy. "When
do we leave? Same time?"
"Yes. Noon by helicopter from the back lawn."
"Good. You all ready yourself, Joy?"
"Yop. Got my toothbrush, wash-'n'-dry undies and spare lipstick." She
gave me a wink I didn't entirely fathom and went into her own office,
saying, "Better call your wife, now."
I dialed our Bethesda number and talked to Mae for about five minutes.
You can say a lot in that time, but for the life of me all I could
remember of Mae's conversation was, "I love you and I know you love me.
I'm sorry I made that fuss about Joy Linx. We had a nice chat. I think
she's sweet."